Cosmic music. Correlations between music and cosmos-related ideas across ancient cultures (original) (raw)

Pythagoras and Plato established the basic ideas of the occidental theory of “cosmic music”: the relations between intervals of music and numbers, the character of the scales and their influence in nature and society, the harmony of the planetary spheres, etc. Occidental philosophy and theology went back to these concepts, up to their influence in Johannes Kepler’s famous work “Harmonice mundi”. Non-western cultures developed ideas of “cosmic music”, too. Ancient China e.g. created a very complex system of relations between the different tones of the scale, elements of the calendar and social phenomena. According to the concepts of other people the celestial bodies sound while moving around, or the creation itself happened by sound. Some kinds of music instruments were meant to embody these ideas, to show the connections between music and cosmos, and to enable man to manipulate these relations in an active manner. The article presents an overview about some correlations between cosmos-related ideas and music across ancient cultures.